CVE-2020-1714 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in org.keycloak:keycloak-core. A fix is available for org.keycloak:keycloak-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Input Validation in Keycloak
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-1714 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,386 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.keycloak:keycloak-core☕org.keycloak:keycloak-commonReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A flaw was found in Keycloak before version 11.0.0, where the code base contains usages of ObjectInputStream without type checks. This flaw allows an attacker to inject arbitrarily serialized Java Objects, which would then get deserialized in a privileged context and potentially lead to remote code execution.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.keycloak:keycloak-core | all versions | 11.0.0org.keycloak:keycloak-core:11.0.0 |
| ☕Maven | org.keycloak:keycloak-common | all versions | 11.0.0org.keycloak:keycloak-common:11.0.0 |
Affected Products
quarkusquarkusdecision managerredhatjboss fuseredhatkeycloakredhatopenshift application runtimesredhatprocess automationredhatDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.keycloak:keycloak-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.keycloak:keycloak-core to 11.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-1714 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
There is currently no known mitigation for this issue.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2020-1714 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat build of Quarkus 1.7.5 | keycloak | RHSA-2020:4252 |
| Red Hat Decision Manager 7 | keycloak | RHSA-2020:3675 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.8.0 | keycloak | RHSA-2020:5568 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 6 | keycloak-adapter-sso7_4-eap6-0:9.0.4-1.redhat_00001.1.ep6.el6 | RHSA-2020:2816 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3 for RHEL 6 | eap7-keycloak-adapter-sso7_4-0:9.0.4-1.redhat_00001.1.el6eap | RHSA-2020:2814 |
| Red Hat Process Automation 7 | keycloak | RHSA-2020:3678 |
| Red Hat Runtimes Spring Boot 2.1.15 | keycloak | RHSA-2020:3017 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.4.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2020:2813 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-1714 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.